After years of my son consuming various comic youtube, encyclopedias and wikipedia sites I have started a few subscriptions to comics. I saw DC and Marvel were rebooting several series and figured it was a good time to jump in for him. I have bought him collections in the past like Infinity Gauntlet, but he wasn't too keen to read it. He saw the Watchmen relaunch and we got the subscription to that earlier this year and he has read them.

Any advice for a new collector? He (he gets it from me) is a collector so if he needs all of something, why I started with these relaunches. With the subscriptions we get a discount on the price and free bag and board. I snagged one of the BCW plastic comic boxes for now and know if he continues cardboard will be the way to go economically.

Even if you strongly prefer physical over digital, I’d recommend at least dipping your toes into Comixology. Digital is a good way to try a lot of series for free or cheap. Several thousand freebies over the years at Comixology and Dark Horse and Amazon. Also, free previews of the first few pages of every book. With sales and bundles, and a few months patience perhaps, one can own every comic ever produced for 99 cents each or less. Better on a tablet, but doable on a PC or smartphone.

If you/he get into buying lots of physical books per month, and saving money is a concern, online stores like dcbservice.com give roughly 45-50% discounts on each DC and Marvel, and usually at least 35% off everything else.

More later.

Thanks for the info. He doesn't use a tablet, he has one but always has his face in his phone, but I'll let him check out comixology. Besides the collecting part, this is his thing. The kid has been a walking encyclopedia of comics for the past 5 years, and he's only 14. I am trying to get his nose out of his phone more though and everytime we go to a store with comics he looks at everything.

Any suggestions for Sandman, Constantine and/or V? I saw Hellblazer was recently relaunched.

Where is a good place for back issues?

Every new collector really should check out DCBSERVICE and its sister site, Instocktrades. Both are highly recommended if you want to save money in the long run and have a serious collecting habit.

https://www.dcbservice.com/

https://www.instocktrades.com/

The best value in back issues if you can't find a good local shop is eBay. Shops and collectors are always dumping entire runs for fairly great prices if you know what you are doing. Back issues go way down in price once the comparable trade or hardcover is issued. Now that eBay is frequently offering discount codes, the deals are even better.

As for actual title suggestions, I would have suggested Red Hood and the Outlaws, but rumors of changes to the status quo for that book may change things.

Cusm,

See if there's a local mini convention near your area. They're usually comprised of many shops. Sometimes there's an entry fee, but it's never substantial. Honestly, it sounds like your son could spend the entire weekend combing through their back issue bins. I really think he'd enjoy it.

If you're ever down in Austin, TX, Austin Books and Comics is a great store to visit. Tons of nerwe stuff on shelves and lots of back issues.

Thanks for the input guys. I wanted to make sure I was starting out okay and that there wasn't a better way to begin, ie issues vs collection.

There isn’t really a right way or a wrong way, as every collector is different. Some people buy single issues only, some wait for the initial smaller collections, some wait for large omnibuses, some do digital those three ways. Some pay close to full price at local shops, some pay half price online, some wait for quarter bins. Some books have content exclusive to each version, and you might need to quadruple (or more) dip to be a completest.

The main things (imho) are just to expect everything you buy to be worthless the moment you leave the store, and to buy what you enjoy.

One recommendation I have is that when it comes time for cardboard boxes, don't get longboxes. I (like most) used those for decades until I experienced drawerboxes. I eventually converted my entire collection over and never looked back. It is unbelievable to me that longboxes still exist now that drawerboxes are a thing.

Here are some pics, these are not mine but they are basically what mine look like
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&....0.OZ4JFAqQYIg

The other thing I wish I had done in retrospect and would be very painful for me to switch now is that I should've gotten clear boards inside my clear bags. Because of that mistake I now have ten thousand (literally) issues where I can't access the back cover \ upc code etc without opening them up!

https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb...r+comic+boards

If you have any questions about either of these or anything else, I am a big collector and will try to help.

My advice would be to not bother with bags and boards for most comics.

When you say he needs something to collect, does it have to be monthly comics, or are collections ok?

I don't think I'd ever recommend collecting month to month anymore unless you really want to support the comics industry and/or you have an active community you really want to talk about the latest stuff with or something. The discount with DCBS helps but keep in mind you have to order stuff a couple of months in advance (because comic stores have to order their books a couple of months in advance and DCBS is basically just putting in a preorder for you).

But basically everything from the big 2 gets collected, and as far as readability goes a collected volume is much more durable and sits on a bookshelf better. You can basically collect just the best stuff instead of being let down by a storyline or editorial pivot or whatever after sinking 4 bucks a month for nine months into something.

But if he wants to just collect an issue or two a month and the act of getting a physical monthly comic book is the ideal (and you don't have delusions that the comics will be worth much later on), it might be worth the cost to just go down to the local comic book store and let him browse around and put a pull list in. You probably won't get as big of a discount but it's a better experience (as long as you're not getting dozens of comics), and if anything that's the experience I'd want to replicate with my kids when they're a little older.

!? Comics are naked without a bag and board. Would you let your children go around naked without clothes?

I'd probably focus starting out on one or two monthly books. Collecting trades just doesn't give the same visceral feedback to a collector.

I used to feel that way, and most of my pre-1990 books are still boarded. But even with them, the cold hard truth is that 90% or more of my collection would net me maybe a nickel an issue now. Sure, I have a few thousand-dollar books, and with hundreds of hours of work I could make maybe a few dollars a book on ten or so of my seventy long boxes. But the vast majority of my mostly 80s and 90s collection is worth less than the bags and boards I’ve spent on them. And comics from this century are worth even less.

You can fit more comics in a long box without bags and boards.